Early lubrication began with animal fats and oils and slowly evolved to petroleum-based oils. Petroleum-based oil, however, do not perform as well as many of the animal-based products and require a lot of refining and treatment. Synthetic oils, which are made from small molecules, have historically had superior lubricating performance characteristics that could not be achieved with conventional oils. However, while many lubricants currently exist, there is still a need for lubricants with improved properties.